Mothers Matter
Mothers matter
Judy Smith was a social worker in Vancouver, Canada. Her life was spent serving others with a focus on high need girls and women. It was her dream that her legacy would be used to improve and support women’s health. The Judy Smith Health Centre was built in her honour in 2012.
The Judy Smith Health Centre began offering much needed primary care to the community. It became evident that the women in Taiama wanted and needed a close and safe place to give birth. The maternal health program was started at the Centre in 2016. The midwife, Joyce Lemoh, the nurse, Memunatu Turay and Augusta Nicho work together to provide professional midwifery care to pregnant women and their babies before, during and after birth. Since it’s inception more than 240 healthy babies have been born at the Centre.
In 2022, the Centre added an innovative ‘mobile outreach’ service to 5 villages. Women and their families no longer had to travel long distances for care and could be seen regularly in their own home village. Care at the Judy Smith Health Centre continues after birth with well mother and baby appointments. Getting adequate nutrition is an ongoing problem for families. The Centre distributes locally made nutritional supplements (Bennimix) to the nursing mothers and babies 6 months and over. Recently all required vaccinations and immunizations are available at the Centre. These visit allow another opportunity to ask questions to get care and support from the team. The team educates the women on personal health, nutrition, feeding options, sanitation, reproductive health, family planning and malaria control.